Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-01-20
MARRIAGE In CHINA.
A Man Never Sees His Wife Until He Is We'd
ded to Her-A Queer Kind OfCourtship.
BROOKLYN Citizen

Brooklyn Citizen.
"a Chinese love-letter! HaveI any old
fashioned Chinese love-letters in my
trunk? Have / a gilt-edged billet doax
with monogram like crows track? ?
There was never a love-letter written in
Chinese. No Chinese maiden ever penned
billet-doux."
Rather sadly was this said by roman
tic young Chinaman, Mr.. Hong Wing.
who is noted among the Chinese for the
skill with which he plays on the mando-
lin.
SIN China" continued he, "a man new
er sees his wife until he is welded to her
for life, and sometimes he does not see
her then, for she may refuse to remove
her veil until three days have elapsed af-
ter the wedding. If he doesn't like her
he can not get divorce, but he may
marry another wife, and then another
and another, until he has gone through
the bilndfold lottery often enough to get
one that suits him. Some of these Chin
csc Croesuses have hundreds of wives.
There was an old bachelor who took it
into his head to get married one winter,
and he married two hundred wives before
he got through. The last wife is almost
always the favorite, but the first one is the
boss"
eff man never sees his wife before
Their wedding, how does he make love to
herr"
''He doesn't make love to her. His
mother arranges the match, and his fu-
ture mother-in-laW makes love to him.
1t is a sour courtship. Children are for
mally engaged to other children that
they have never seen at the tender age of
or 10, and after an engagement of ten
or twelve years they get married.
Does Chinaman ever marry his
cousin
mo; a marriage of cousins was nsver
heard of In China. A man may no more
marry bis cousin in China than in Eng
land, but man may marry his deceased
wiFe's sister. You talk about your old
families here, and your oldest families
are only five generations OLD. In China
families are seventy-fve md eighty gen
erations old, and every member has a
complete record of his ancestors for all
these generations. The most remote kin
ship prevents marriages in China, if two
families have the faintest imaginable
kinship seVenty-fve generations back the
children can net marry"
What are the most common families in
your country"
''The Chens, the Wongs, and the Lees.
The Chens are the Smiths of China, the
WOngs are the Jonses, and the Lees are
the Browns. A Mr.. Chen would marry a
Miss Wong, but he wouldn't marry Miss
Chen. Perhaps that is the reason why
the old folks make the matches. It pre-
vents the Chense from falling in love with
one another"
Are the Chinese ladies cultivated"
ooh, yes; they can read and write,
draw, paint, and embrOider. They never
go out on the street with their husbands.
If a Chinese man and woman were to
walk on the street arm in arm in their
country, as American men and women do,
they would be mobbed. The women stay
indoors. If they wish to visit their moth
ers they take cOnyeyances. Sometimes
they may be seen walking in the park
with their children"
''You are married?'
eyes"
ITO a Chinese lady?"
No, to an American. 1 came to this
country when boy IL years old. Though
was 5000 miles from China, my mother
betrothed me to a little Chinese girl 7
had never seen. My mother used to write
to me how small her feet were and how
pretty she was, and what beautiful cat
like nose she had. When I was twenty
years old mother sent me letter say
ing was old enough to get married, and
must come back to China and marry the
girl"
''What did you think about it?''
II thought [ was old enough and so fell
head over cue in love with an American
girl in Nevada, and married her. We
had our pictures taken, and 1 sent one to
my mother, together with an account of
OUh I froT
American newspaper into Chinese"
"What happened?"
""The next thing knew my uncle and
four cousins came on to the United States
and had me arrested for bigamy. l was
taken before court and tried. My uncle
went on the stand and swore I had wife
in China"
what did you do them"
Il thought l was in box, as you
Americans say. The Judge asked the
witnesses how old 1 was when I left
China, They replied that my mother
had picked her out for me, and that. in
Chinese law, was the same as marriage.
The judge said that they didn't have any
Chinese statues in this country, aud my
uncle innocently replied that he would
send to China for some. Everybody in
the court laughed, and, as had lived in
the town ever since l came to America
all knew that l had left China a little boy
so the jury acquitted me. My uncle told
the judge that he would be beheaded when
he went back to China, which was mon
strous fib with which he intended to
scare the judge. 1 have never been back
to China, and suppose the lite girl whom
never saw is grass widow. Poor
child!'
Amateur HOusePainting by Women
NJ. K D. in New York Ledger
THERE'S something very fascinating to